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2020 Cadillac CT5 revealed, will replace the CTS

Between the end of most of Cadillac's sedan offerings and the launch of the underwhelming XT6 crossover, things were looking dreary at the American luxury brand. But now we get an exciting surprise in the reveal of the 2020 Cadillac CT5 sedan. It's a clean, and arguably conservative-looking sedan, but there are a number of things that have us intrigued. The sedan is clearly the CTS replacement, since the name falls just below the flagship CT6 sedan. Under the hood are two familiar Cadillac engines, a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4 and a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6. Power numbers haven't been announced, but expect each to make similar power to the current CTS: 268 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque for the four-cylinder and 420 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque for the V6. Rear drive and all-wheel drive are available, and both engines get a 10-speed automatic transmission. The car also adopts the trim level scheme introduced by the XT4 and XT6 crossovers, which means there are just two choices, Sport and Luxury. The Sport model, pictured in gray, has a more aggressive front fascia and dark taillights, while the Luxury model, shown in burgundy, has a more demure appearance and classic red taillights. We only get a glimpse of the interior, and it shows the latest electronic gear shifter shared with Cadillac's recent crossovers, along with a physical knob for interacting with the infotainment system. Cadillac announced that the car will make its public debut at the New York Auto Show, and it will be built at the Grand River factory in Lansing, Mich. We expect to get more details and images of the car when it's revealed at the show.

Cadillac XT5 platform to underpin three-row crossover

Cadillac just launched the XT5 crossover to replace the SRX. But that's only the start. Speaking with Automotive News, Caddy president Johan de Nysschen confirmed that a new three-row crossover is also on the way. The seven-seater is based on a stretched version of the flexible platform underpinning the XT5, which we just drove recently. Taking that approach will give the luxury brand a larger crossover to pit against the likes of the Infiniti QX60, Audi Q7, and Volvo XC90 without having to develop one from scratch. It will also give buyers a more car-like alternative to the larger, truck-based Escalade. "It's one of the benefits of having this very flexible architecture. We can expand it, make it longer and wider. That gives us the ability to develop the car very quickly, as opposed to starting from scratch," de Nysschen told AN. "It's not running yet. It is a program request that we initiated with the engineers only last year. They are working at remarkable, record-breaking speed to get us the car." The new model would likely be called the XT7 and offer similar levels of equipment to the existing, smaller XT5. The existing mid-size model packs a 3.6-liter V6 mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission and comes in four trim levels. Related Video:

Junkyard Gem: 1976 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible

Convertibles rode high well in 1960s America, with Detroit selling more than 500,000 ragtops in 1965, but sales collapsed by the early 1970s and tightening federal crash-safety regulations made it seem less worthwhile to even bother producing new ones. Chrysler halted convertible production after 1971, with Ford following suit by 1973. By the 1976 model year, the Cadillac Eldorado was the last new American car you could buy with a convertible top from the factory, and it appeared that none would ever be built again. I've found one of those "last convertible" Eldorados in rough-but-identifiable condition in a Denver junkyard. As it turned out, the convertible never really died in America. Car shoppers could still buy new European-made convertibles after 1976, coachbuilders modified new Detroit cars with factory-grade drop-tops, and then Chrysler began selling K-Car convertibles starting with the 1982 model year. Because the '76 Eldorado appeared to be the absolute end of the convertible line, however, buyers thought they were investing in a sure-fire collector car that would be worth vast sums in the not-very-distant future (this belief led to lawsuits against GM later on, when the Cadillac Division resumed production of the Eldorado convertible for 1984). While a one-of-200-made Bicentennial Edition Eldorado with red-white-and-blue trim really is worth plenty these days, an ordinary 1976 Eldorado in beat-up condition doesn't seem worth restoring. This car appears to have sat outside in Colorado with the top down for decades, filling with snow each winter and enduring high-elevation solar irradiation each summer. A 1960s GTO or Camaro might be worth fixing up after falling into this state of disrepair, but not one of 14,000 "last convertible" Eldorados made in 1976. GM's Unified Powerplant Package front-wheel-drive system, which used battleship-strength chains to transmit power to the drive wheels, proved to be extremely reliable on the street, joining the small-block Chevrolet engine and Hydra-Matic transmission in the pantheon of The General's Greatest Engineering Hits. Even gigantic motorhomes used this system. In 1976, the Eldorado got the last of the 500-cubic-inch (8.2 liter, or litre as GM's marketers spelled it) V8s, rated at a disappointing 190 horsepower and an impressive 360 lb-ft of torque.